Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: Ambleside curriculum

This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by Francis2911.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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January 22, 2011 at 6:12 am
Francis2911
Participant
Is anyone here familiar with the Ambleside Curriculum? I have just discovered it and would love to use it with my children, but have no idea how it works. I know they have quite a bit of reading to do per week but is that all they do? Are they supposed to write after they read? If so, how much? How often? It seems like alot to be done in one week? Can anyone help,please?!
January 22, 2011 at 7:05 am
suzukimom
Participant
Can help more later…. but first advice – join the AO yahoo groip!
Also – have you read the AO get started and FAQ?
Ages of kids?
Have sick baby on lap – will say more tomorrow.
January 22, 2011 at 1:20 pm
missingtheshire
Member
You difinitely need to join the AO forum, they have all the answers you seek. They do a lot of work it is rigorous and it pays to check it carefully to make sure it is what you need. I have taken resources from HEO and Simply CM and used both, I build my own curriculum but there will be writing and math and I can tell you if you follow AO through HEO it will be very rigorous. Join their forum as well, and then you will have the chance to ask questions and read responses from the people who really use it and know. Blessings Linda
January 22, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Francis2911
Participant
Thank you for your posts. I just went over to the AO site and hopefully signed up correctly for the yahoo group. I can never seem to figure those things out =). I did read through the FAQ and getting started sections of the site but didn’t seem to find the info I was looking for? Am I missing something?
To answer your questions my children are 12 (7th grade); 7 (1st graade); 5(starting Kindergarten in the fall); the other two are not school age yet. Looking forward to hearing back from you and from anyone else who has advice regarding the AO curriculum. Thanks!
January 22, 2011 at 7:32 pm
houseofchaos
Participant
Okay, I don’t know how much help I can be, but I’ll give it a try…
First question: Are you new to Charlotte Mason’s methods, or just the AO curriculum?
We use AO and SCM (taking what we like from each), because different aspects of each suit us better. I would strongly suggest you look through AO and sort out what you would like to use and would not like to use. Don’t feel like you need to use every book there (we don’t), although most of them are quite good. We cut out the majority of the mythology because we feel our children are too young for so much of it.
The way we do it is: oral narrations for most of the readings, with selected written narrations, usually from their favorite subject(s). We are just transitioning to written narrations, as my oldest is only twelve and lacks confidence in his writing abilities.
This link may be helpful:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/2008/09/15/the-art-of-narrating/
Gaeleen

January 22, 2011 at 8:57 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Ok, i have a little time now… we are using a slightly modified AO (Candian History) I can also talk more about the Year 1 than I can for your older child because of the age of my kids.
For the early years with AO, you do a reading (breaking it into whatever size works for your child), then have them orally narrate it. You can have them do other narration methods, like drawing a picture or acting it out too. Written narrations aren’t done until the child is ready – I think around age 10 is when they recommend starting to add a bit of written narrations. For an older child just starting, they don’t recommend doing written narrations for a year or so of doing oral narrations… so for your older it depends if they have done oral narrations or not prior to this.
What year were you thinking of putting your 12 year old in? I wouldn’t recommend Year 7! AO recommends starting Year 1 at age 7, and Year 7 is a leap up in difficulty! I’d look at somewhere around Year 4-6, or the Pre-Year 7, depending on their abilities.
There is more to AO than just the booklists… there are the composer/music study, art/picture study, nature study, etc.
I can’t speak for the higher years – but I do think that Year 1 is certainly doable…. that said, I did end up breaking the Year 1 over 2 years because I started my son when he was 6 and he wasn’t ready… so I dropped some things out last year…. (that and I was sick with a difficult pregnancy, and then of course had a newborn…) I really just came to realize that he wasn’t ready last year a bit into this year. We are doing Year 1 again, doing the things we missed, and adding in a bit more to replace the things we already did. Most Year 1 mom’s say they take between 1 to 2 hours a day for school, and that is in line with the time we take.
Here is an idea of what we are doing…. Note that we only read from a book that week if AO has a reading scheduled!
Mondays we do the basics – Math, Copywork, Reading Practice, possibly 2nd language. We also have violin lessons and swim lessons outside the house.
Tuesdays we do the basics, plus scheduled readings (if there are any) from Our Island Story, 1/2 of the Burgess Bird Book reading, 1/2 Parables from Nature, 1/3-1/2 Blue Fairy Book, current literature book
Wednesday we do the basics, plus Viking Tales, Canadian History, 1/3 Blue Fairy Book (if doing 3rds), current literature book
Thursdays we do the basics, plus 1/2 Burgess Bird Book, 1/2 Parables from Nature,, 1/3-1/2 Blue Fairy Book, current literature book
Fridays we do math and then 1) whatever we didn’t finish, OR 2) Wild Day! Nature study, swimming at the Y, going to the Zoo, or museum, or whatever.
Saturdays we do anything we didn’t finish, scouting, nature study, or whatever life suggests to us!
Oh, and the weeks with Shakespeare, we work on it each day. We read the Free-Reads before bedtime. You can kind of see what we finished from our first go at Year 1… and I didn’t mention what I’ve added in…
hope that helps some!
January 23, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Esby
Member
I’ve been using Ambleside for a few years, but not exclusively and not exactly as scheduled on the site. More and more I use SCM books and I also use a lot of my own books and materials. But I do use the schedules on AO as my starting point as I plan each term.
My eldest is also in 7th grade, though she is not doing AO year 7. AO is quite advanced and doing a year that is lower than “grade level” will still provide a very rigorous curriculum. My 7th grader is doing a mix of AO 4-6 since she’s covered some subjects in the past, but needs a lower-level for other subjects.
My DD is reading Shakespeare on her own, but we do Plutarch together. Most other books she reads on her own, but I also read them myself, not because it’s required but because they are such good books that I don’t want to miss them!
My 7th grader does a combination of oral and written narrations. She has been narrating orally since about age 6 and transitioned to written narration about age 11. Even though she is writing her narrations now, I still ask for oral narrations because I believe oral narration is valuable and worth keeping up the practice. She keeps a nature journal, a history journal (with her written narrations and occassional illustrations), and a science journal (with written narrations and an illustration for each entry), and a geography journal (with written narrations, maps, and illustrations). In addition, I started giving extra writing assignments to her this year. She is doing creative writing (which she’s always done on her own initiative in the past, but now we’re giving the work more structure) and I’m introducing essay writing later this winter or spring. She started formal grammar and Latin this year. Based on recommendations from this board, I selected Getting Started with Latin, and we use Sonya’s books for prepared dictation.
My younger child, age 9, is finishing AO year 2 and will begin AO year 3 soon. He’s heard many of the books when I read them aloud to his sister, but he’s enjoying them again. He reads some books on his own (the Holling C. Holling books, for example), but most of the books I read aloud to him. He gives oral narration after each reading, except his free reading. I don’t require written narrations from him, but since his sister is keeping journals for various subjects, he wanted to do that too. He usually draws a cartoon for his entry with a short caption or dialogue for his journals. He does copywork about four times a week.
My kids do science, art history, and geography together, with each child working at their own level.
We do painting study regularly (though not always in the CM way) and we all keep a nature journal. I have room for improvement with our BOCs (Book of Centuries) and composer studies. We tend to work on handicrafts in spurts, though that’s probably not the best approach.
For the scheduling details, I print the AO 36-week schedule and then cross out the AO books I don’t want to use and insert my substitutions. I then tranfer the weekly readings and assignments to my own calendar 12 weeks at a time, and then I follow that schedule. I tend to put most work M-Th and leave F for “catch-up” days. I also like to include a few free days in the term for “catch-up” days and I’m always glad for that breathing room on our schedule – we always have work that needs catching up.
I don’t know if this answered any of your questions! I’ve been happy with AO, combining it with SCM and my own book selections and assignments. Definitely explore the AO website, read the old articles, etc.
I apologize for the length of this post….

January 24, 2011 at 5:01 am
Francis2911
Participant
Thank you for your help!!! I think I am finally able to begin making sense of the curriculum. Bless you for your encouragement and guidence!!!